Four off-duty PSNI officers were today (Monday) found not guilty of being involved in a “fracas” in a Belfast city centre kebab shop.
Victoria Bell, 39, Dean McCallum, 37, Mark Fulham, 29, and Taylor Annett, 25, whose addresses were given as c/o PSNI headquarters in east Belfast, went on trial last week and denied a single charge they each faced of affray which is unlawful fighting in public.
The off-duty officers had been out in Belfast celebrating Mark Fulham’s birthday prior to the disturbance and all four accepted that by the time they went to City Kitchen in High Street for food, they were drunk.
Both in their interviews in February 2022 and during the trial, all four officers said they acted in self-defence and that the force they used was necessary and proportionate. The incident occurred in the early hours of January 8, 2022.
It was the Crown’s case that a male customer, Graham McCullough, entered the kebab shop and whilst waiting on his food he witnessed and heard an interaction between the four defendants and a man wearing a red hat sitting on his own at another table.
Concerned about the interaction, Mr McCullough intervened which resulted in a fracas breaking out and the PSNI being called to the scene.
During the trial at Belfast Crown Court, the defendants accepted that at no point during the incident did any of them reveal they were police officers.
When the jury of eight men and four women returned to court today (Monday), they were asked by the court clerk if they had reached a verdict on which they all agreed. The foreperson replied: “Yes”.
The foreperson then returned not guilty verdicts for the charge of affray against each defendant standing in the dock of the court. The defendants looked physically relieved when the not guilty verdicts were announced, with Victoria Bell letting out a gasp at the jury’s decision.
After thanking the jury for their attention throughout the case, Judge Gordon Kerr KC told them were they free to leave the court. When the judge asked prosecutor Kate McKay if there was anything further against the defendants, she replied: “No, Your Honour”.
Addressing the four defendants, Judge Kerr told them: “You are free to go.”
English (United States) ·